Is It Wrong To Use The Bible As A Standard To Measure What Is Right And Wrong?

[goodlife]

Because a proverb says A bad person will not go unpunished. (Prov. 11:21)

[jackthehat]

Yes.
It is a bad idea to use the Bible as a standard for anything.

[Ann]

Why Jack? I suppose that is only for unbelievers to say that?

[Kathyan]

I agree with jth.

[sara3]

do you not know right from wrong?

[LazyGun]

Yes. Its a very bad idea to attempt to use it as a literal, unchanging basis for culture or society or law

It does, on the other hand, have some use as a doorstop, as a source of imaginative and creative examplea of the use of language, and for a laugh if you want to bother reading revelations or leviticus.

It has some claimed value as a tool of punishment or as an aid to create magic water and sugar based medical remedies, but thats about it.

[anneasquith]

surely people of religion are allowed to use the bible as a form of reference ?

[woofgang]

of course they are allowed to.....if they aren't careful though it will lead them to doing some quite strange things.....

[jackthehat]

Why?
It is brutal and contradictory.
Which part should you follow on any given occasion?
When he transgresses should you embrace your child, or stone him to death?

[FredPuli43]

The Ten Commandments are fine. The rest is a little more difficult; it's right, and a duty, to marry your brother's widow if she is childless (Deuteronomy 25:5), for example, and we should be stoning adulteresses and not eating pork (Where does Christ say that eating pork is fine?)

[LazyGun]

The 10 commandments are fine, Frde? Even the first 3 or 4?

1. Thou shalt have no other gods but me? Ermm, which god? How does that work for those cultures who have another god. or no god at all? Hardly an inclusive commandment, that one :)

2.Thou shalt not make a graven image? Well that rules out much art and a lot of TV and movies, too. So we should, like some fanatics, call for the death penalty - or at the very least, a stern talking to - to those cartoonists that portray god sitting on a cloud?

3.Thous shalt not take the name of god in vain - So, we are talking re-establishing blasphemy laws now?

No, I do not think the 10 commandments a suitable bedrock in todays society,

[Old_Geezer]

It is a bad idea to acept anything at face value. It may introduce ideas for discussion but blind faith is no way to create standards as it simply allows others to dictate what they preach.

Many bad people go unpunished, at least in this world.

[jim360]

Is it wrong to use the Bible as a standard to measure its own validity?

[Kromovaracun]

In the Bible, rape goes unpunished, God kills millions of people (including children) often for no reason, or if he does have a reason then out of barbaric and extremely outdated moral codes. Sometimes he even just does it because they are complaining. (Numbers 11:4-34; In Numbers 16:41-49, God kills almost 15,000 people with a plague for complaining about God killing people).

He also regularly appeased by human sacrifice. (2 Samuel 21; Jesus; 2 Chronicles 15:12-15)

Yahweh's followers aren't terribly moral either. David allows his son to rape his daughter (and Yahweh is just dandy with that). Moses regularly orders his followers to murder, enslave and commit genocide - Numbers 31:13-17 benefits quoting in full (this happens just after a battle with the Midianites):

"14And Moses was wroth with the officers of the host, with the captains over thousands, and captains over hundreds, which came from the battle.

15 And Moses said unto them, Have ye saved all the women alive?

16 Behold, these caused the children of Israel, through the counsel of Balaam, to commit trespass against the Lord in the matter of Peor, and there was a plague among the congregation of the Lord.

17 Now therefore kill every male among the little ones, and kill every woman that hath known man by lying with him."

[ummmm]

So who would want those kind of standards?

[society]

I believe it's best to use common sense, knowledge and understanding to determine the differences between rights and wrongs.

[Quizmonster]

If you look at the Ten Commandments, it is perfectly clear that only the first four are specifically ‘religious', as already suggested above; the remaining six are purely ‘social'. That is, they must form a basis for any rational and moral society.
I personally think religion is utter bunkum, but I fully support the necessity for Commandments 5 - 10 if a society is to hold together.

[goodlife]

Ok do you agree love is vital to the enjoyment of peace, happiness and contentment. Indeed, life is not worth living without love.

Jesus showed this, saying: By this all will know that you are my disciples, if you have love among yourselves. (John 13:35) And yet, a true Christian’s love cannot be limited to just fellow servants of God. It must reach out to include still others. In fact, Jesus commanded: Continue to love your enemies and to pray for those persecuting you; that you may prove yourselves sons of your Father who is in the heavens.”—Matt. 5:44, 45.

[chrisgel]

Goodlife = I would rather you didn't love me if that's ok.

[Kromovaracun]

We already knew the value of love before Jesus came along. There was an extensive tradition of Chinese literature, philosophy and poetry dating long before Jesus was even born. And those are just what's survived.

[LazyGun]

Love crosses all cultural boundaries, goodlife. It is not the sole preserve of christians - or the religious either, come to that.

And using biblical teachings to illustrate a point can backfire badly - for every reference to love, I am willing to bet that those amongst us with more than just a passing familiarity with the bible can point to plenty of vengeful hateful and downright murderous instructions from it.

You still have failed to support your point...